Small, plum-coloured, button-like flowers top wiry, upright stems, and seem to hover above the neat mounds of blue-green, pinnate foliage. This cultivar is more tolerant of drier conditions, so is particularly well-suited to mixed or herbaceous borders.

Astrantia major 'Rubra'

masterwort

As the days shorten, the autumn sun sinks a little lower every day and begins to backlight the borders, picking up detail and silhouette. There’s plenty to enjoy and seed heads, in suitably autumnal shades of brown and silver take centre stage, often last